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Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale)
Sir Hugo Drax is the villain created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. For the film and novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is played by actor Michael Lonsdale. Novel bio In the novel, Sir Hugo Drax is a famous English World War II hero and post-war millionaire. His face is scarred due to an accident during the War in which his face was blown off halfway. The same accident left him with amnesia. Still, Drax was able to start up his company, "Drax Metals Ltd", which specializes and has a monopoly in the production of a metal called columbite. Drax is also the backer of the 'Moonraker' missile project being built to defend the UK against its Cold War enemies. Using the metal, columbite, it gives the missile's engine an extra layer of protection so it can burn hotter fuels which will expand its range of fire. Scheme As it turns out, Sir Hugo Drax is not the real Hugo Drax; he was born Graf Hugo von der Drache. Because Drache's mother was English he was educated in England until the age of twelve. Afterwards he moved to Berlin and later Leipzig where he continued and finished his education. After graduating Drache joined the Nazi party and entered World War II as a soldier in the 150th Panzer Brigade. During a mission, Drache dressed as a British soldier so that he could sabotage and destroy a farmhouse that was holding a mixed liaison group of American and British servicemen, but something went wrong and he was nearly killed. Drache was then rescued by the British and nursed back to health under the guise that he was a "missing soldier" by the name of Hugo Drax. Because Drax was a Nazi and had an insurmountable hatred for England, he started the 'Moonraker' missile project under the pretense that he would test fire the missile into the North Sea. Instead of doing so, however, he set his target for London and armed missile with an atomic bomb he received through support by the Soviets. Prevention James Bond with the help of female Special Branch agent Gala Brand, sabotaged Drax's 'Moonraker' missile launch and changed the coordinates of the target back to the North Sea, where after the missile was launched Drax and his men had escaped so they could watch as London was destroyed. Instead, the Russian submarine Drax was on was blown entirely out of the water by the blast of the nuclear warhead. Henchmen *Krebs - Drax's friend and later loyal servant, Krebs was also a Nazi in the same 105th Panzer Brigade. *Dr. Walter - Is a Soviet scientist sent to aid Drax with the missile project as well as the atomic bomb. Film bio Hugo Drax is a billionaire living in California in a château that was imported from France. He owns Drax Industries, which constructs space shuttles. In addition, Drax supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but apparently couldn't export it from France because they wouldn't issue him an export licence. Residence Mr. Drax resides in the Drax residence, part of the Drax estate in California. Employment Mr. Drax is the owner of the Drax Corporation, the corporation that manufactured the Moonraker space shuttle. Talents *Mr. Drax plays the piano. Near the beginning of the film Moonraker he plays the Raindrop Prelude. Scheme In a scheme similar to that of Karl Stromberg's plan, Drax sought to destroy the entire human race except for a small group of carefully selected humans, both male and female, that would leave Earth and start over on a space station in Earth's orbit. Using biological weapons created by Drax's scientists he would wipe out the remaining human race. After a period of time when the biological agents no longer had any effect, Drax and his master race would return to Earth to reinhabit the planet. These humans would supposedly be extremely loyal to him and live in harmony with one another. Prevention Bond and his companion, CIA agent Dr. Holly Goodhead, commandeer one of Drax's space shuttles and blast off to his orbiting space station. There with the help of Goodhead, Jaws, and a combination of British and American space soldiers, Bond foils Drax's plan by destroying the space station. Drax is shot by Bond's wrist dart and Bond politely escorts him to the air lock saying," Take a giant step for mankind." Drax is then sucked out into space. In Drax's plan, the biological agents were to be dispersed around the earth from a series of 50 strategically placed globes, each containing enough toxin to kill 100 million people. Only three globes had been launched when the station was destroyed, taking with it the threat from the other 47 globes. Bond and Goodhead escape the destruction of the spacestation in a shuttle, and Bond uses laser guns mounted on the shuttle to destroy the remaining three globes. Employees *Cavendish (butler) *Holly Goodhead (on loan from NASA) Henchmen *Jaws *Chan Quotes See also *List of James Bond villains External Links *Profile of Hugo Drax on LinkedIn Drax, Sir Hugo Category:Deceased characters Category:Characters killed by James Bond Category:Moonraker characters